This mini-thesis interprets the convergence of food and memory and explores dialectical processes associating food, identity and (post)memory, particularly in the context of post-apartheid South Africa. Considering works by prominent South African Artists Berni Searle and Churchill Madikida as well as my own artistic practise and usage of food as conceptual medium, this study considers the converging effects of food, identity and memory, together with the materiality of food, from a fine arts perspective, as particularly rich and developing arena for memory work

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Technology : Fine Arts, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2014. / The motivation for this research results from the notion that art-making is a regenerative enriching process that can counteract the sense of dislocation that one suffers as a consequence of depression. The study has two objectives: to open a discourse around the transformative function of art for a person suffering depression; and challenge notions of dominant constructed ideals of normality by presenting alternative realities of the performative mind. From the earliest memories of my life, I knew I did not fit in, I was not part of the crowd. Depression has been my companion ever since I can remember. The intention for this self-study is to interrogate the ways in which art can become a self-actualising process in coping with depression. The content for this research deals with narratives of the mind, that is, my understanding of who I am. I have therefore, positioned myself as the pivot for this research, drawing on authentic personal experiential knowledge. This autobiographical phenomenological study is thus a self-reflexive exploration addressing concepts of difference and belonging in relation to social constructs of acceptability. The study looks at contemporary concepts of multiple selves, relationality and the application of therapeutic methodologies within art practice. Art-making becomes games of truth, mind games that offer alternative realities and possibilities for the construction of complex, multi-faceted narratives as dialogues between the self and the inner critic. Of importance is the concept that self is not a fixed conclusive notion but one that continues to unfold, shift and become a multi-layered construct. These new narratives examine how creativity enables or creates a sense of belonging or re-positioning of one’s states of mind. The overall intention of the art-making process is its potential for transformative self-recovery processes – the re-construction of who we are, rather than how we are perceived. This research thus examines the notion of belonging in this world through body/land enactments of ritualised behaviour. The body as metaphor investigates rites of passage as the re-tellings of one’s story within specific body/site/space relationships. The ideal of connection to site is central as a means of renewal and recovery – these performative relationships become the creative meaning-making processes of locating or positionality. In support of these ideas and concepts, the work of Ana Mendieta, Magdalena Abakanowicz and Suzanne Lacy are considered in relation to ideals of positionality and as reflecting each artist’s ethics or paradigms of equality. Artworks are examined against the notion of locating oneself within social contexts. The aim is to question the intention and outcomes of art-making as social function in dealing with issues of marginalisation and stigma. Performativity, personal writings/reflections and memory drawings are the quintessential tools of my art-making. The written psychological renderings and unravellings of my mind, questionings that are both reflexive and critical, are intentionally presented in dialogical, conversational and direct modes. This personal tone aims to allow a scope into my mind – it is my perspective from the inside, my voice, my personal understanding of the potential of art as a metaphorical process of transformation. Lacy asserts that the artist becomes a witness, reporter and analyst for socio-culturally biased concerns; a performance gives public articulation and permission to speak out loud, gives voice to internal dialogues, reveal information that requires questioning and that personal individual experience has profound social implications. Lacy believes that it is an innate human need to reflect on the meaning of one’s life and one’s work (2010:176-177). Central to the findings of this study, are both the transgressive and transformative functions of art. / M

The study critically examines public art in postcolonial Zimbabwe‘s cities of Harare and Bulawayo. In a case by case approach, I analyse the National Heroes Acre and Old Bulawayo monuments, and three contemporary sculptures – Dominic Benhura‘s Leapfrog (1993) and Adam Madebe‘s Ploughman (1987) and Looking into the future (1985). I used a qualitative research methodology to collect and analyse data. My research design utilised in-depth interviews, observation, content and document analysis, and photography to gather nuanced data and these methods ensured that data collected is validated and/or triangulated. I argue that in Zimbabwe, monuments and public sculpture serve as the necessary interface of the visual, cultural and political discourse of a postcolonial nation that is constantly in transition and dialogue with the everyday realities of trying to understand and construct a national identity from a nest of sub-cultures. I further argue that monuments and public sculpture in Zimbabwe abound with political imperatives given that, as visual artefacts that interlace with ritual performance, they are conscious creations of society and are therefore constitutive of that society‘s heritage and social memory. Since independence in 1980, monuments and public sculpture have helped to open up discursive space and dialogue on national issues and myths. Such discursive spaces and dialogues, I also argue, have been particularly animated from the late 1990s to the present, a period in which the nation has engaged in self-introspection in the face of socio-political change and challenges in the continual process of imagining the Zimbabwean nation. Little research focusing on postcolonial public art in Zimbabwe has hitherto been undertaken. This study addresses gaps in this literature while also providing a spring board from which future studies may emerge. / Microsoft� Word 2010 / Adobe Acrobat 9.54 Paper Capture Plug-in

Sous l’intitulé « remembrance théâtrale », la thèse se propose d’examiner la présence du passé ainsi que les usages de l’Histoire et de la mémoire dans la création scénique contemporaine en Europe. Quel regard les artistes de la scène contemporaine portent-ils sur le passé ? Quelle lecture nous donnent-ils de l’Histoire et dans quelle perspective ? Comment, et à quelles fins, intègrent-ils ce passé dans leur processus d’écriture scénique ? En quoi la scène et ses possibilités artistiques sont-elles propices à l’exploration de la mémoire ? Quel rôle ces artistes délèguent-ils au spectateur dans l’établissement du sens de cette exploration ? L’analyse s’appuiera sur trois créations récentes de Maguy Marin (Description d’un combat), Christoph Marthaler (Papperlapapp) et François Tanguy (Onzième). A travers l’exemple de ces formes scéniques apparentées au « spectre postdramatique » (Christian Biet, Christophe Triau) ainsi qu’à la constellation des « écritures du plateau » (Bruno Tackels), dans lesquelles se manifestent les pratiques de la fragmentation, de la citation, de la trace et de l’archive, de la déconstruction et de l’assemblage, il s’agira de saisir les spécificités esthétiques qui découlent de ces explorations du temps depuis la scène en interrogeant à la fois les modalités de leur mise en œuvre, les conditions de leur réception et les visées de leur présentation. Selon une approche esthétique s’appuyant notamment sur la philosophie de l’Histoire de Walter Benjamin, la thèse envisage donc de déployer tout à la fois une poïétique, une poétique ainsi qu’une politique de la remémoration dans les arts du spectacle de ces quinze dernières années. / Under the heading "theatrical remembrance," this thesis sets out to examine the relation of modern theatre to the past and the uses of history and memory in contemporary stage creation in Europe. It examines how artists of the contemporary scene relate to the past asking the questions : What conception do they give us of history and from what perspective? How and for what purpose, do they integrate the past in their scenic writing process? In what way is the scene and its artistic possibilities conducive to the exploration of memory? What roles do artists delegate to their audience in determining the meaning of their artistic expression? The analysis is based on three recent creations by Maguy Marin (Description d'un combat), Christoph Marthaler (Papperlapapp) and François Tanguy (Onzième). Through these examples of scenic forms, affiliated to the "post-dramatic spectrum" (Christian Biet, Christophe Triau), as well as the contribution of Les écritures de plateau by Bruno Tackels, in which the practices of fragmentation, the quote, the trace, the archive; of dismantling and of assembly, appear. Through the use of the aesthetic characteristics resulting from these explorations of the past on the stage, and the questioning of the modalities of their implementation, the conditions of their reception and the purposes of their presentation and in accordance with an aesthetic approach based in particular on the philosophy of History by Walter Benjamin, the thesis plans to develop a poetics and politics of remembrance in the performing arts of the last fifteen years.